Last Thing About You~
by Rei-chan
Summary: What if Kaji didn't die in the 22nd episode, and after he had spend five years away, he comes back in Japan trying to find his only love but finds only a child who's always looking for trouble? LAST CHAPTER IS ON!!!!!!!!! DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!
1. Last Thing About You -1st Chapter

thing1

"Last thing about you"   
When a child falls down from a tree…   


Neo Tokyo3 : November 19th, 2015 

Kaji Ryouji stood still, in a solitary spot of a skyscraper in the outskirts of the city. Though he knew what was coming up for him, he wore a serene expression, and nothing could upset him right then...he would never give them the satisfaction of seeing him afraid...he knew his actions had been for the best, and was proud about them... 

*Forgive me, Misato...but I'll have to vanquish from your life...* 

His hands stayed in his pockets as he heard somebody's steps, getting closer to him by the moment...   
He recognized them at once...he'd done a couple of jobs with these particular lackeys of Seele, eager to follow their orders like puppies, whichever these orders where...   
But in the end, he had to admit that it was sort of logical they'd been sent to him...he was a traitor...and whoever didn't keep loyal to Seele knew all too well what would happen to them...the same thing that was going to happen to him... 

"Hi...you're late!" He managed to say with his off-hand grin on his face...but the faces of the three Seele men didn't betray any emotion, almost as if they were robots...who know, perhaps they really were... never be amazed of Seele's ways... 

They didn't even let out a breath...One of them rose the muzzle of the gun all of them held in hand, quickly pointing it at him, and firing with no hesitation. 

"It took but a single shot to shut him up for good..." 

At least, that's what the three Seele agents reported before the whole circle of monoliths, now sure that Kaji Ryouji was nothing but an unpleasant memory to them...   


"Well done..." the Russian member said emotionlessly . 

*   
Neo Tokyo-3: September 17th, 2020 

Kaji Ryouji smiled lightly, as the memory of the last event he witnessed in Neo Tokyo 3 came back to his mind...   
How stupid and naive of Seele...he had managed to trick even that huge organization...a simple command of which could've caused the end of human race...it'd take way more than a mere bullet to get rid of him... 

He had spent the last five years in Europe, hiding out in a small spot in southern Italy...he had changed name, identity, looks...   
But now, after five years, he had returned to Neo Tokyo 3...something nobody sane would've done...an insane line of action...why in the world go back to Japan, since he had already obtained a regular licence to stay in Italy, and had managed to fix himself up quite well in that country, so far away from his mother land?! 

Kaji knew all too well that if those of Seele would've recognized him wandering around Neo Tokyo 3, they wouldn't be so 'merciful' as to try to kill him with a gunshot...this time he could die for real!...   
But something else was leading him to death, if he stayed in Italy...   
The thought of her...the only person he hadn't managed to forget.. the only one he had managed to truly love...   


"Misato..." He whispered as, sitting on a bench in the park of Neo Tokyo 3, he followed with his gaze yet another carob leaf that had detached from a barnch of the tree, and slowly fell towards the water of the artificial pond... 

*I wonder where you may be now that...there's this park where Nerv was...* he thought, as he got lost watching the circles spreading at the touch of the leaf, withered by the season. 

The formerly spy sighed and shook his head *How stupid of me...to think that I could still find her here in Neo Tokyo 3 now that Nerv is no more...* This one thought of resignation dawned bitterly in his mind, cutting that last thread of hope he had clutched to, and that had given him the courage to return in this city ... the Lord knew why Nerv didn't exist anymore...what had happened to everybody...if they were still alive ... if she was still alive... 

He thought again about the message he left in her answering machine...'If I can see you again, I will say the words that I could not say 8 years ago. Bye.', and came to think that, after all, he had never said those words... much less to her... and never would. He would never fall in love with any other woman than Katsuragi...it wasn't possible... 

Kaji leaned back on the bench, wrapping his arms behind his head, and gazed the sunny, yet cloudy at the same time, sky, that covered the most modern city of Japan that day. He closed his eyes, and unconsciously started to listen to all the sounds that echoed around him, as he once again ost himself in thoughts of the woman he had been so ingenuous to let go of, and that he most likely would never see again... 

He could hear birds chirping happily...it was already time for migration, and by and by, all the swallows and any other animal sensitive to winter temperatures would've left for distant shores...to warm countries, were winter didn't exist ...Earth's ecosystem was slowly restoring itself...and given time, all would've returnet to how it was in the beginning... 

Some children were noisingly playing by his left. Kaji could hear their little voices, merry and joyful, as they echoed all the way to him like a melody that belonged to that place...how fortunate of them...so innocent so as to ignore all the horribl events that had taken place in the past...to learn of these tragedies only through school books...   
It didn't disturb him after all, in fact, it brought him memories of his own childhood...he smiled... 

"Sir!! Hey sir!! " The voice of a little girl standing besides him, trying to draw his attention by yanking the sleave of his shirt, distracted him from his thoughts for a second... 

Upon hearing himself called, he opened his eyes, and turned to look at the source, without lifting from his position. It was a little girl of five or six years, wearing a pink dress, with short brown hair framing her happy face, with which she regarded him as she held a doll in her arms. 

"Hi!" Kaji answered to the girl. "What's up?" He asked in turn. 

The little girl held up her doll to the man with familiarity "can you please keep this for me? " she demanded merrily, placing it on the man's lap. Then, without even waiting for his answer, she dashed back towards the pack of kids, gathered not afar from him, around the same, huge carob tree. 

Aside of the girl that had given him her doll, there were three more kids. Three boys. But it was one of them in particular that drew his attention: this kid was in fact hanging top-down from one of the tree's branches, at 2-3 meters from the ground, holding just with his knees wrapped around it... while the other three tried to join him, climbing with some effort. 

Seeing those children trying to climb on the tree, but most of all seeing that particular kid hanging head-down, immediately spurred anguish and worry in Kaji's mind. "What the heck..." he worriedly mumbled sitting up from the slacked position he had been holding, and forgetting about the thoughts that had been in his mind until then. 

"Check this out!! Am I good or what!" Exclaimed the kid on the branch, as he tried to gather speed and height in his swinging. He had to be five or six years old, like his playmates, and wore a cap that, despite the owner's bizarre position, had not dropped down. He had a blue shirt with one of the so many anime heroes drawn on, and white shorts. 

"Hey kid! You're going to get hurt if you fall down! Get down now!" Kaji exclaimed worriedly, ready to dash should the need arise. 

Upon hearing those words, the boy stopped laghing and swinging, and turned to watch Kaji with a confused and surprised look, followed by his friends, who in turn stopped trying to climb up the tree. 

"No way! I'm too good! " He repeated, and resumed swinging. But as soon as he'd spoke, his cap slowly slid off his head and dropped down, and as he tried to to catch it on the fly with his hands, he lost balance and fell down too, amidst his own cries of shock and fright and those of his friends. 

"WATCH OUT!!" Kaji immediately shoved aside the doll the girl had put on is lap, lazily dropping it on the bench he'd been sitting on, and dashed towards the falling kid. Thanks to his impressively sharp reflexesm he managed to catch him in time, before his small body could crash on the groun below him. 

The rest of the kids, upon witnessing that moment of tension, ran away screaming in fright, and scrambled in all directions... 

Due to the momentum the small brat had gathered falling from the tree, Kaji lost his balance and fell sitting on the ground, but not even that could break in any way the hold he had of the little one. 

"Hey kid! Are you alright!?" the man exclaimed concerned, as he looked at the boy huddled to his chest. 

As he noticed he was out of danger, thanks to the unfamiliar man, the boy looked at Kaji with his big blue eyes filled with fright, and nodded, then burst out crying, relieving himself of al the gathered tension... 

Kaji smiled, sighing in relief, as he hugged the small weeping brat, stroking his back to reassure him. 

"You gave me one big fright, you little rascal..." he joked, ruffling the kid's black hair, as his sobs slowly subsided... 

Kaji stoof up, taking from the ground the cap that, hadn't he been there right then, would've been the cause of a terrible tragedy, and went back to the kid, then put it back on his head. 

"See what happens to those who play such dangerous games!?" He remarked with an authoritative tone, crouching to meet the boy's gaze. 

The kid felt the reproach in the man's words, and nervously rubbing his shirt, tried to divert his uneasy gaze from Kaji's face... 

"Remember not to try that again..." the former Seele spy went on, softening his tone as he resumed smiling at the somewhat wild kid... 

After a while, the man scanned his surroundings, as if looking for somebody "Is your mother nearby?" he asked. 

The boy shook his head, and finally spoke to the man "No, she's at home..." he replied, as he adjusted the cap's peak. 

kaji stood back up, inhaling deeply, "Ok, I'll walk you home then..." he said, then offered his hand to the kid... 

"My name's Kaji, Kaji Ryouji! and you? Will you tell me what's yours?" 

An expression of surprise almost drew itself on the boy's face in response to Kaji's gesture, and he hesitated taking the offered hand... 

"Come on, don't tell me you forgot your name?" Ryouji joked waiting for the kid to take his hand. 

Instead, the boy backed away timidly. God knows why, but when he had heard the man's name, he'd felt upset and at the same time almost frightened by it...up to the point, after taking another step backwars, of turning and running away quickly vanishing among the bushes... 

"But...where you're going now?!?" Kaji wondered, surprised by the sudden reaction from the child. he drew back the offered hand, and his soft expression turned into a confused one; because indeed, he had been confused by it, not really upset, but immediately afterwards, he was smiling again... 

After all, he too had run away many times in his life, and after all, he was still doing it.   
He was running away... 

End of Chapter One. 

************ 

Well..^__^;;This is my first mini-fiction about Kaji!^_^   
This story can be a bit silly, but I wanted to write it just for this reason!^^;   
Anyway, I hope that I can upload the next chapter soon, and I hope that all of you will like this story that I wrote due a night inspiration ^__^;;;   
I'd like to thank really very much my friend Ebj that translate this chapter for me^__^(Originally I wrote it in italian, my native tongue)   
Thank you really very much, Ebj!!^O^ 

Don't forget to review!!!^O^   
C&C are welcome!   
  



	2. Last Thing About You -2nd Chapter

lastthing2

"Last thing about you"   
When a child runs away...   


It'd been 7 days since he came back from Japan, but Kaji's life hadn't changed at all.   
Everything seemed to be working fine, maybe a bit too much...so much that the days were passing on tediously; very much unlike 5 years before, when he had to live on running serious risks every single day.   
And now, no challenge, no buzz, no danger to face…nothing at all.   
Never before had he looked at his life and seen it so empty and meaningless.   
He was giving up on himself…Any more reasons to enjoy his life? No. 

"Where did you say you want to go?"   
The taxi driver finally broke into his thoughts and brought him back to reality. She was a plump old lady, with white curly hair and thick glasses. 

"Ah…to Densetsu Kuiki…" 

"OK…" she answered, changing the gear. "I haven't been in that place for a long time; there is no reason to hang around that place anymore, after all" she continued, trying to chat up that silent customer. 

"Yes, I know" Kaji uttered. He was not surprised by that. He had had the same comment by the previous taxi driver who had taken him to Aoihoshi, the suburb where Misato used to live. All he had found there was a run-down building in the process of being demolished, and no trace of Misato.   
From some dark spots scattered all around the building, he could gather that there had been a fire set off recently…was Misato responsible of that fire? 

At the sight of that gloomy building, Kaji suddenly had a disturbing sense of solitude growing inside him, as he'd never had before. Five years before, that building was almost empty, only Misato and few other families used to live on the top floors. 

What happened to them? Maybe they all died in the fire..or maybe they all moved out somewhere else, but where?? 

Once again, all the thoughts were coming back to him again. He was mainly thinking about the woman who loved and his desperate attempt to trace her back. All his hopes were fading…. 

Her name was not even listed in the phone book anymore. It was obvious that, if ever Misato Katsuragi was still alive, she wasn't living in Tokyo-3 anymore.   
If she was not, He'd have regretted his not dying 5 years before, by Seele. At least he'd have lived together with her in the afterlife.   
Gloomy and sad thoughts…. despite his optimistic and cheerful nature . 

If only he could have turned the clock back! He'd have done so many things if he could have jumped back to year 2015. 

/STREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAK!! 

The car suddenly stopped, followed by a sudden turn of the wheel. Not only did Kaji come back to reality from that flow of thoughts, but he was about to bump on the window, hadn't it been for the seat belts. 

"What the…" 

"Hey you, damned kid!!!! Didn't you see the light??!?! It's RED, dammit!!" shouted the woman and suddenly her smiley face turned into a mad one. 

"These damned kids!!! I wonder why their parents let them out so carelessly…####!!!" said the woman keeping beating her hands on the wheel. 

Kaji leaned out of the window, trying to understand what was going on.   
As soon as he gave a glance to that child, he got really surpised. What was in front of him was the same person he grabbed in his arms 2 days before, while he was falling from a tree. 

"But but …. I know you kid!" Kaji was amazed and confused at the same time.."are you a trouble-seeker or what?" 

"Do you know him? Well, in this case you should really go and have a word with her mum. How can she possibly let such a brat go out????" the old lady said, waiting for the guy to get out of the way. 

The guy didn't show any sign of fear, considering the trouble he just got himself into. What he did was stepping back a bit and this made Kaji think again. Why had he been so scared when he feel off that tree, busting into a loud cry, and now was he instead so self-controlled?   
This time the guy didn't seem to worry about the car at all, instead he focused hi attention to the other side of the road where there was something which scared him off much more than running over a car. He ran away quickly. The woman was about to go again when another dark-haired man ran off across the street, following the kid. 

"Hey!!! Are these people all blind, or what?!?!?" shouted the woman, blowing madly the horn. 

Kaji continued to look at the scene without paying attention to what the woman was saying, and when he saw the child disappearing round the corner he handed a 20 yen note to the taxi driver and said to her: "I get off here, here's your money" before she could even switch on the engine again. 

He opened the door and dashed outside. 

"What?? What??? Hey, gotta give you the change?!?!?" The woman tried to stop Kaji to give him some money back, but he was already running after that kid and the people who were following him. 

End Second Chapter 

*****************   
Thanks to Fabio Vecchioli (soliton@starmail.com) for this translation!   
  
  



	3. Last Thing About You -3rd Chapter

thing3 "Last thing about you"   
  
When a child needs your help...   
  
"There's no way out…you little scoundrel!!", a man about twenty exclaimed in a menacing tone, while collaring the raven-haired child. He lifted him up bodily and pushed him against the wall. His gang of three hangers-on followed him cheering loudly. 

In spite of it, the child didn't even let a moan come out of his mouth. He had grazed his knees that were bleeding profusely, because of the fall he had on the ground, which led to his capture by the four men. Not even the pain caused by the wound had made him cry. He would have never given such a satisfaction to those swine. 

They had been so gutless that they desired to beat such a young child as he was… 

The little boy, without saying one word, was trying to restrain the fear from showing in his eyes, while looking at the four men moving to hold him in such an uncomfortable position. A crowd of thoughts were filling his mind. And these were differing at all from the expression he put on .On the surface, he looked untouched by the situation, quite a menacing expression on his face betraying him to be cross for the sudden trouble he had run into. But, deep inside, his frightened soul was crying out with terror. The guys were staring satisfied at him, with an evil ironic scorn. It was evident that they considered the captured child as a trophy, whom they could play trick on for their own pleasure, without caring at all. 

"You're gonna pay for this, you little brat!! Prepare to cry!!", added another one, pulling his sleeves up, in order to inflict the punishment to the unknown-named child in a better way. 

Despite the impending danger, the little rascal didn't give up his lively attitude, still trusting in his astuteness, that was…too much, if anything, for a child of his age. Even if, given the situation, he had realized his bravery would have been useless to save him from the strict punishment promised by the three guys, who seemed   
rather serious about putting it into effect. 

"Well.....which way shall we punish you!?", asked one of the four nasty boys, rhetorically, with a vein of malice in his words. 

"Shall we throw you off from an elevated railway, making your tiny body crash into the ground...?", one of them suggested maliciously, moving his face nearer to the child's one, displaying a cruel expression, in order to frighten him even more. 

"Or rather...why not drown you in the park's pool....? Of course, it would be amusing . to watch at you gasping!", whispered the second, mimicking the other guy's tone of voice, while simulating the gesture of pushing the kid's head under water and holding him properly. 

"Or rather…why not sprinkling you with fuel and burning you alive as a chicken?!!", sneered the third criminal, laughing evilly.   
At those words, the prisoner-child's deep-blue eyes couldn't help but betray some fear, while he was imagining the moments when the hoodlums will have put into effect their purposes of punishing him. This time they wouldn't have limited themselves to a reproach or a little chastisement. 

"Do you know, you snotty-nosed…?", so made his début the fourth of the group, who probably was the oldest among them, and thus he was the boss in all likelihood. He had kept himself some steps behind the other three guys. He came in sight, inhaling a last puff of the cigarette which he held in his hand, then threw it onto the ground, finally putting it out by treading upon it. 

In a quiet manner, he whispered the words: "I have got a passion for wild animals, and there's a jaguar in my house..."   
Both the gang and the terrified child abruptly turned to the 'boss', whose last words had sounded unexpected in a moment like that. 

"He' s very fierce, do you know? He has a special dislike for unfamiliar fellows..." Through those further words, the three accomplices became able to understand at once what was on their boss' mind, thus they smiled evilly at him. 

"Aaahh! I got it, Boss!" exclaimed one of them. 

"You're always the best!", went on an other, showing satisfaction, then he addressed the child, who was still unable to seize the third kind of torture which the boss was having in mind as a possibility. "Just think, what if that fierce jaguar bit your little empty head and crunched it..." , he added, while slowly drawing his own hand towards the kid's head, imitating the behavior of the animal at issue. 

But once the young man's hand came near him, the child leaneds as much as possible and quickly resorted to a trick suggested by both astuteness and survival instinct, biting with all his strength the hand of the man, who hurried to lean the other hand on the painful one. Because of his suffering he relaxed the grip with which he held the child lifted by the neck. The child immediately took advantage of it, desperately attempting to escape. Unfortunately for him, the situation was visibly uneven: it would have been an exceptional case, if four big guys had come off worst from a brawl against a child of just about five. In fact, it didn't take long for the three men to catch the raven-haired child again, and push him against the wall. This time they were showing a much more menacing and evil expression than before. 

"Little damned bastard!!" the young man, who had been treated rudely by the child, exclaimed while massaging again the hand, which had been bitten to blood just before. "You're gonna pay dearly for that!", the young man continued, while his companions were preparing to hit the child's face with a strong blow. 

"Take this, you filthy brat!" The child closed his eyes instinctually, being resigned to suffer the unavoidable punch at last, he drew his candid face back as much as possible to dampen the blow.   
The seconds seemed like hours, but the impact that terrified the child so much never did happen...There were only some astonished exclamations from his 'slave-drivers'. 

At first, the child did not consider those exclamations, as he should have done. But if he had really watched what was happening, he wouldn't stand still…He abruptly opened his eyes again, when he heard an almost familiar voice mixed with the cries of the three villains who had been caught unawares. They were in fear and suddenly started to relax the grip on the child still pushed against the wall by his neck; then they let him slowly slide on the ground. 

Once the child became free, he didn't run away. Not only because he wasn't able to stand on his little legs, which were still tired and hurt, but also because of what was happening, which involved him so much that he was dumbfounded. 

"Aren't you ashamed of getting angry with such a little child!?!" exclaimed Kaji Ryouji, the man who had opportunely spared him from a bad fall down the big carob some days ago. Now he had suddenly stopped the blow, which the three hoodlums had in store for the child, with his own hand. 

"Who the hell are you?! Eh?, mate, are you looking for some trouble?" But the hooligan did not receive any verbal answer from Kaji; on the contrary, Ryouji 'confined' himself to answering him in the same way the hooligan wanted to punish that brat: a quick punch in the stomach, which knocked out the criminal at once, making him groan with pain. 

The other three bunglers looked at the scene, with terror in their eyes. Instead, Kaji was absolutely calm, maybe he was a bit angry for having seen how they had treated the child, but his look was quiet and resolute after all; he was only waiting for the other three to come forward. In fact, one of them, after having recomposed himself, drew near Ryouji, his look filled with anger and grudge. 

"You stupid meddler!! You'll pay dearly for this intrusion!!", exclaimed the hooligan, trying to hit the Seele's ex-spy with a kick. But Ryouji, thanks to his very good reflexes, blocked the kick with an arm, and hit him in the stomach with the other one, making him fall backwards. The hooligan on the left tried to catch him around the waist; he was robust enough, and wanted to block Kaji, gripping him between his arms. But Ryouji prevented him, and hit him on the neck near to the carotid, with the hand's edge. A blow given on that point would leave anyone breathless; in fact the young man fell over the ground, desperately trying to get his breath back, helped by the last member of the gang still on his feet, who, seeing the previous experiences of his three companions, understood that if he had tried to beat that   
extraneous who interfered in their brawl, he would come to the same end of his three bunglers. 

Kaji stopped to defend himself and the 'little brat', as soon as the three hoodlums, now badly reduced for his punches, went away imploring pity, escaping frightened and painful. 

Following with the look the four running ones, Kaji slowly got his breath back after the violent fight. After all, in spite many years were passed, he still remembered the secret moves which were basic to know in his job of spy. 

"Tsk...mean cowards!", he said in a low voice, drying this way the sweat he had shed during the quarrel. After some seconds he turned his glance towards the real interested person in this bad adventure. 

"Don't you believe you have chosen rivals much stronger than you?", Kaji said ironically, looking at the child who was trying with difficulty to stand up on his feet again. 

The child turned his big blue eyes to the man, but his glance was not at all different from that one he had casted to the three hooligans during their terrible menaces: in his eyes one could read all mistrust which the child felt, for some unknown reason, regarding his helper... 

Kaji laughed, not looking after the menacing glance of the little one, and approached slowly to him. 

"Come here kid...I'll take you home...", said Kaji with a loving and reassuring tone. In the same time he bent down to the child and stretched out his arms trying to lift him from the ground. 

But the child appeared reluctant to comply with the wish of Kaji. "N...no!!", he exclaimed, while abruptly pushing the ex-spy's hands away from himself. After this, he desperately tried to escape, as if Kaji was even more dangerous than the three hooligans he had just dealt with. Ryouji was astonished, seeing the reaction of the child who was running away from him for the second time, having no reason for doing it. 

He had not even had the time to recall him, before the child suddenly had fallen onto the ground again. The fall was probably caused by the pain of the grazes on his knees, which didn't let him support his tired body's weight with the little strength he had left. After the fall, the kid made his best to stand up again and return to run, trying to ignore the pain, which the wound renewed. Thoughts of the unknown man being able to take advantage of his weakness, in order to catch him again, made the child terrified. 

But the child's fear was a well founded one. In fact, before the child could become aware of it, Kaji was already close to him, showing him his smiling and good-natured face, while leaning his own hands over his tiny shoulders. 

"Let me go!!", the child yelled with fear, not succeeding in moving a muscle, which filled him with panic. Not being impressed by the child's words, Kaji tried again to reassure him by caressing his shoulders. He knew that the likelihood of the child reacting this way was due to the fact that the hooligans' bullying a few minutes ago had traumatized him. 

"Quiet down...I don't wanna hurt you." , whispered the man in a sweet and reassuring tone. "I know that your parents probably said to stay away from strangers, and they've gotta good reason for that! Maybe what happened to you has been a confirmation of the advice your parents have given to you! But...What do you think could happen if those bullies found you again all alone on your own?" , he went on, trying to explain the situation to the young child in simple words. 

The child was very sharp and it didn't take much for him to understand, by reflecting over the man's words. For some moments, it looked as if he was trying to win over his fear, comparing the two situations at present: either trusting the man, or staying all alone on his way home, running the risk of meeting with the hooligans again. 

Kaji stared at him. The mission seemed impossible to him: to understand the thousand thoughts filled with emotions, which were running through the little rascal's mind. Silently staring each other motionless, they spent a few moments, letting time pass...the both were looking at the unusual similarities of each other's glances. After it, for one more time Kaji hinted to the gesture of taking the little rascal into his arms, letting him accept or refuse offer, this time. 

The raven-haired child's glance turned to the big hands of Kaji, which were stretched out in openness to him. The kid leaned his trembling white hand over Ryouji's one. Kaji felt the child's tepid hand trembling over his own hands, and clasped it tenderly, as if wanting to contain it...what a strange sensation it was, finally to clasp the hand of that child, who still remained a stranger, after all. That young child symbolized hope for him...Maybe hope which had finally succeeded in filling the void left by the absence of Misato... 

Hope which he had relinquished for good. The child still wavered, before thrusting himself forward towards Kaji and lifting his own arms to be grasped by him. At that move, Ryouji immediately received the child, standing again and leaning him over his left arm.   
The child drew close towards the man and leaned his hand over Kaji's shoulder, trying not to cross his glance, as if he was giving vent to the need of protection, which he had concealed during the terrible moments when he had dealt with the hooligans. Without even being aware of it, he started to sob, covering his arms around the man's neck, venting all tension he had accumulated till then, by repressing his true feelings. 

Kaji smiled and hugged the weeping child, reassuring him with a warm embrace "Don't worry, little guy...you'll be ok, I'm with you now...Just settle down, it's all over..." The child pressed closer to the man, clinging to Kaji's shirt with his tiny fingers and wetting it by tears. The child had not given to those hoodlums the satisfaction to see him crying with fear. Gosh, that child had behaved just like him, in front of the danger, Kaji thought. 

"Well, will you tell me your name?" Ryouji repeated the answer to the young child for the second time, hoping that he will have reacted differently, at least. "My name is Kaji, I've already told you…" The child stopped crying, while wiping the last tears from his eyes, turning his face to Kaji doubtfully with sadness. The child didn't answer. 

Kaji sighed deeply because of this last refusal from the frightened kid. But he tried patiently to accept the child's choice of remaining anonymous. "Ok..ok..if you don't want to tell me your name, just tell me where you live!", Kaji exclaimed, removing the child's black hair away from his forehead. One more time, Kaji received silence as his answer...there was nothing to do...despite the man's patience and goodwill, the kid did not want to give any information...probably his parents had educated him in a sever manner as for dealing with strangers, and he had acquired an excessive taboo about it… 

Kaji petted the child on his head. "Well! 'Cause you don't want to tell me where you live, I'll take you to my home...is that okay with you?", he exclaimed, winking at him nicely.   
The child was dumbfounded by the question from the man. 

"I can't leave you alone on your own after what happened! Don't you think?!", he went one in a loving tone.   
After a moment of reflection, the child nodded dubiously, agreeing with his helper that he was right after all. Nevertheless, he didn't change his look; so different from the one he had some days ago, when he was playing happily on the tree together with his friends. 

"Well...then..." , whispered the man, caressing the child's back, "Let's go to my home…"   
  
End of the Third Chapter. 

*************   
Very much thanks to my big friend Faby-chan ([shinchan@inwind.it][1]) and Dave for the translation.   
And Thank very much my pre-reader Henry for the corrections!^__^ ([hypocritical_view@yahoo.com][2]) 

If do you want send me your comments, please email me: [reichan@inwind.it][3] or [sailormnemosyne@tin.it][4]   


   [1]: mailto:shinchan@inwind.it
   [2]: mailto:hypocritical_view@yahoo.com
   [3]: mailto:reichan@inwind.it
   [4]: mailto:sailormnemosyne@tin.it



	4. Last Thing About You -4th Chapter

"Last thing about you"   
  
When a child finds your love   
  
A small and neat flat in the suburbs in the southern part of Neo Tokyo-3, after having been completely deserted for five years, could now finally savor the unexpected presence of its master, Ryouji Kaji...even if that day Kaji was not the only one who was present... As a matter of fact, he had come back a few minutes before, taking a little guest with him... 

For all that, the only audible sound at the moment were the light ticking of the old wooden clock, that was hanging on the wall, ticking away the seconds, unrelentingly… 

The bandaged knees, belonging to the stick-thin legs of the boy with the deep blue eyes, appeared to be following the movement of the watch's hands, rithmically rocking, kicking the air while he was sitting on the double bed…   
The little boy was staring at the tips of his bare feet. Kaji had washed him thoroughly before making him sit on the white sheets of his curiously double bed… 

The tee-shirt he'd had him wear was many size too large, but he couldn't certainly allow the kid to keep on wearing his dirty clothes, soiled with mud and dust, after his misadventure with that band of thugs… 

The boy looked around again, with a look of curiosity… 

Kaji's flat was crowded by strange things, that made him wonder… 

Old books, newspaper clippings, ancient-looking frames, antiques, a goldfish tank, a laptop PC… all these things were placed on the many shelves of what looked like a large and old bookcase… 

For all the their variety, they seemed to follow a precise order… nothing appeared to have been put there randomly… or at least this was the impression it gave to the still confused and disoriented kid… 

What mostly hit upon his curiosity were some small frames in the most small and hidden corner of the shelves on the wall opposing the bed… 

There were three of them…all three were covered by a blanket of dust…as if forgotten…maybe, no, surely, they had been placed in that corner to be overlooked…hidden among the other things in the room, who were more conspicuos… 

The kid was staring at them. He wasn't able, at such a distance, to tell what was in the pictures exactly, dust and distance kept him from that… 

But curiosity won him over, so slowly, with a little forward jump, the kid got up from the bed, and cautiously approached the top shelf of the bookcase, the one with the three frames…   
They were very high for him, even on tiptoe he could never have reached so high to get them…   
But now, even though the dust kept him from clearly focus the images in the photographs, the kid could make out what they were: three silhouettes of three people… three youngsters, very likely… 

Two women on the sides, and a man in the middle… 

The kid's stare focused on the woman on the right… the girl with long, black hair, kept in place by a pair of glasses, the smiling face… 

*That girl really looks like…* 

"I see you're not upset anymore…" 

Kaji, suddenly appearing on the doorstep, broke his little guest's train of thought, so that he took his gaze away from the frames, and, taken by surprise, turned jerkingly his face toward the tall man, without a word. After that, he realized that Kaji had in his hands a tray with two fuming cups on it, who were likely to contain something hot…   
Immediately after that, he took his gaze away from it, and looked at Kaji without speaking a single word… 

The man smiled at the unsure expression of the kid in front of him. It was almost funny in his innocent small face…he was like a Pomeranian puppy…smart, rebel, reckless, but easily vulnerable in front of the most common external dangers…after all, he was just a little kid… 

"Do you like coffe-with-milk?" Kaji asked, talking about what was in the cups on the tray. "I know at this time of the day tea would be more apropos, but after your recent misadventure, I guess you must be nervous enough, aren't you?..." He went on lightly, trying to make the boy comfortable by his words. 

After a few seconds, the kid nodded, while making an effort not to look the man into the eyes, maybe because of shyness or fear… 

"I like…coffe-with-milk…" 

Kaji sat on the edge of the bed, where the boy was sitting a while ago, and put the tray with the cups on the nightstand, taking one of them. 

"Dozo (here you go)." Kaji gave the steaming cup to the little boy, who slowly approached him with an expression that was almost of surprise.   
"Be careful, it's hot!" he added, as soon as he saw the kid using both his hands to get the china cup, made warm by the dense beige fluid. 

The kid squeezed the cup in his hands, and with a confused look, stared its content for a few seconds… after that, he rised again his stare, toward the sitting man, who was looking at him with an interested and almost amused expression. 

"How did you know…I like it?" the boy asked, before taking the cup to his lips and taking a sip. 

Kaji bent to get the other cup of coffee-with-milk, which was on the tray, at the base of the bed. "I just guessed!" he joyously cried out, while taking his cup in his hands. "Have I guessed right?" he went on lazingly taking in a little milk. 

The kid nodded, taking the cup to his lips, mimicking the movements of the former Seele agent. 

"Mum always makes me coffee-with-milk…"   


"Aah so, desu ka? (Really?)" Kaji was not paying attention, so he could not think about the boy's words, apparently meaningless. Little boys at that age simply love milk, and it was quite obvious that his mother prepared it for him… who knows, maybe there was still a child left in him… who had always preferred a nice glass of milk to those silly alcoholic beverages, who did not taste good. This just wasn't the way for Kaji to prove his manhood… 

"Hai (yes)…she says Dad really liked it… " Kaji almost saw a faint smile appear on the kid's face after those last words. His look went soft for a while, and he almost was again a smiling and happy child, who not long ago used to hang upside down from a tree limb, like a little monkey.   
  
"Aah so ka? (Really?)" Kaji said while the little boy come to him offering his cup, now empty. "Oh my! And I thought I was the only man in the world so fond of milk to make a baby envious!" the man laughed, while he put both cups on the tray, which was on the floor. 

The boy smiled at that funny look on the man's face, and as though suddenly acquiring all the trust he had denied him so far, he went and sat next to the former Seele agent, who helped him climb on the bed taking him in his arms.   


"Have you got a child?!" This question rised for unknown reasons in the boy's mind, while he looked again at Kaji's face, smiling. These words caused a look of surprise to appear on the man's face, and he turned to look at the little boy, with wonder in his eyes. His look softened soon, and he smiled thinking of that, and shook his head, patting the boy on the head. 

"No, but I would have loved to have one…" the man answered earnestly, revealing this sweet and paternal side of himself, which had never been satisfied… 

The boy looked surprised to get a negative answer from the former Seele agent "Aren't you married?" he asked again, almost incredolous. 

"Unfortunately, I'm not…" Kaji's stare couldn't hide a melancoly streak…obviously, those words reminded him the indelible memory of Misato…the woman he had loved and whom he look forward to marry… 

"And why aren't you married?!" the boy asked again, curious as a kitten, looking rather interested to the conversation he was having with Ryouji.   
"Because I lost forever the woman I loved… " Ryouji was quite surprised at his own words. Why was he revealing his most intimate thoughts to that little stranger, who, by the way, had been so distrustful with him, not even telling him his name? It was as if he was finding some comfort in talking to him… 

The little boy took hi gaze away from the man, realizing that he had grown pensive and melancolic, and putting his elbows on his knees, resting his head this way he sighed… 

"You know, Mum often says the same thing…" the boy muttered, while a look of sadness grew suddenly on his face. 

An amazing look appeared again on Kaji's face, at these unexpected words the little boy had uttered enigmatically. "What? You don't have a father!?" 

The kid shook his head "No…I never had a father…" he whispered, going back to stare the tips of his bare feet, who were so short they didn't touch the floor. "Mum says I look like him in many ways…but whenever I ask her where he his, she starts weeping and can't answer me…" 

*Poor thing…* Kaji thought, while he took the boy to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Even if Mum has never been able to answer this question, I came to the conclusion by myself…my father's…" 

"Wherever you father is, you must remember he's always with you, whatever happened to him, do you understand!?…" said Kaji stopping the boy from saying anymore. Why was he reacting that way!? Was it because, after all, he had the same feeling about Misato? After all, he had Misato believe that, but he hoped that she knew this about him, that wherever he could be, he always was with her…always. 

"Always remember that, wherever you father is, he will always think of you…don't ever forget it!" He added with a strong and authoritative inflection…Kaji spontaneously took his gaze away, toward those three little frames hidden in that corner of the bookcase, where there was his picture from the university times, with Ritsuko and…her…Misato.   
The boy couldn't take his surprised gaze from the man, after hearing his last words… 

"Sometims Mum cries while she sleeps, and she keeps repeating my name…I go by her side, and slowly wake her up…I don't like watching her cry…" The little boy went on, with a trifle of doubt in his voice… he almost looked frightened in expressing his thought, but, at the same time, he had a terrible urge to talk about it to that man, who was, after all, a stranger to him…he couldn't understand the reason, that, by the way, was beyond Kaji's grasp too, while he was listening to his young companion with his gazed transfixed on Misato's picture… 

"…Mum easily wakes up when she weeps in her sleep…and she calls my name…I ask her whether she cries because she's had a nightmare with ogres who were eating her she looks at me and smiles at last, while she sweeps her tears away and squeezes me tight… "The kid went on, with the same look "…she tells me that…she couldn't live without me…and that I'm the only joy in her life…" the boy stopped, and smiled, looking at Kaji. 

"I have no idea what she means, but knowing I'm important to her makes me happy!" he joyously cried out.   
While the boy was talking, it seemed to Kaji that there was an inchanted halo around him…his look changed so much in so little time…when he first met him, he was joyful and happy, like all the children who were around him, and with whom he used to play…the when he fell from the tree he started to cry… it was easy to foresee this reaction from such a little boy after a great danger, fortunately avoided…but he didn't react in the same fashion before the gang of wild boys who had it in for him, his look almost wanted to hide his fear and pretend to be strong and brave, at least as long as possible. He let his feelings out only after the four thugs had gone away…who knows, maybe his young age notwithstanding, he already knew the burden of pride… but now, after having showed a great mistrust towards him, he had told him about some most intimate things…it was almost funny: he had told him many things about his family, but he hadn't told him his name yet…a nameless little boy. 

The former spy couldn't ask the boy his name for the third time, obviously this question, for some obscure reason, made him nervous and distrustful. Better to skip the question, since he had finally succeeded in having an open and frank conversation with him. After all, knowing his name wasn't so terribly important. 

"Your Mum needs you so much, and this should be enough reason for you to protect your own life, don't you think so, kid?" Kaji asked lovingly, while he was tousling the little boy's hair. "Don't you think you get in trouble too easily!? Those thugs…they could have hurt you seriously, if it weren't for me…" 

At the sound of those words, the boy's look changed again, becoming a grimace of despise mixed with melancoly, thinking of those four thugs who had attacked him that afternoon… 

"Those boys…they deserved a lesson…" 

"What!?…" Kaji's look was one of puzzlement, after that unexpected words from the kid, uttered in such a   
resolute tone that he was sensibly shaken . He was confused for a moment; he was about to ask the kid to explain what he'd just said, but just a moment before asking, he understood the meaning of those words… 

"Hey, but… chotto matte kudasai – wait a moment! Are you telling me that you would have liked to give a lesson to those thugs out there?!!?" He blurted out, his voice thickening because of the worry and the amazement. 

"Of course!! I put some sand in their cars' tanks! I had to make them pay for having offended my mother!!" The little boy said with an angry voice, showing all his rage when thinking about his revenge, which was so important for him, but in which he had failed… 

"But…my dear, those people are real criminals!!! That's no laughing matter!! If only I hadn't been there, they could have killed you!!" Kaji, in an evident state of agitation, put his hands on the kid's shoulders, leaning forward to look him squarely in the face. 

"I know, but I wasn't kidding!!! The other day, when I went shopping with Mum, they took to abuse her!!" Because of the rage that was winning over him, freash tears appeared on the boy's eyes, tears that fell down when he turned abruptly toward Kaji. "They…called her names; they said she's a…drunkard" The boy began to cry again, while big tears flooded from his big blue eyes, caused by the memory of having had to hide his wrath before the four thugs who were offendig his mother, but even if she looked unmoved, he already was planning his revenge… 

Kaji was silent. He stared at the crying boy. Again, it was weird to look at him in that condition…His eyes clouded by tears, looked the eyes of someone forced to grow up bifore his time…after all, he didn't expect to see such a look on someone so young…   
  


"Mum…hasn't been drinking for a long time! It's not fair to offend her that way!!! I… had to protect her! Who's going to protect her, but me!?!?" the kid blurted out, still crying. His tears, more than from sadness, were almost liberatory. 

"You're very brave and it's great that you wanted to protect your mother, but…" Kaji stroked his shoulders and made up his mind to cheer up that little boy, so determined and brave "If something bad had happened to you, your mother would have suffered for sure…" he whispered, with a quiet and balming voice, keeping on stroking the shoulders of the little boy, who was calming down little by little. 

The kid thought about the man's word, and wiping away the tears, slowly nodded… 

Kaji smiled at that nodding gesture, it was as if he had found his reflection in that little boy…his brave, but reckless reflection…so reckless to destroy his life…danger used to be fun for him…he really enjoyed his work as a spy…but once he realized it involved more risks and prices to pay than he had reckoned, it was too late…and he didn't want the same thing to happen to someone else, particularly to such a small kid as was in front of him… 

The man got up, taking up from the floor the tray with the empty cups. 

"I'm so happy you finally understand! From now on, try to avoid such dangerous games, OK? When you are about to do it, think of your mother…and…how she'd feel if you should desert her…"   
Those last words had more effect on him than on the little boy. As a matter of fact, he had long thought about that when he was away: what could have Misato felt, believing him dead? he couldn't imagine a reaction different from the uttermost pain…he had committed such a crime against the woman he loved… very likely, if one day he should meet her again, she would hate him for all her suffering…   
After all, it was better this way…it was dawning upon him that the best thing for both of them was never to meet again…   
He had resisted the thought to get in touch with her, afraid that Seele's men could know, and retaliate against her too…Christ, it was the last thing he wanted to happen…but he knew he could never forgive himself for having disappeared from her life, right when their relationship, after all those puerile misunderstandings, was beginning to work…   
But when he finally made up his mind to risk everything and go back to Neo Tokyo-3, it was obviously too late…   
There was no sign of Major Misato Katsuragi…nothing at all… 

Kaji shook his head, and, after tousling the black hair of the boy near him, he said "Now I'm going to freshen myself up, on the nighstand there's the TV remote, it's supposed to be cartoon time, isn't it?" he said, trying to hide his sadness from his mysterious guest. 

The kid nodded, and reached toward the near nightstand to get the remote. "May I ask you one last question?" the little boy asked again, before the man could get out from the room.   
"Okay, shoot!" he answered, joking, putting his hand on the door's handle and opening it. 

"Why do you have a double bed…if you live alone!?" the boy asked with curiosity, looking around the bed he was sitting on. 

Kaji smiled and sighed, with his mind wandering to five years before "Well…when we had nothing better to do at night, we used to come here to have fun..." 

"To have fun?" the boy looked a little confused. He was too young to understand the meaming of that sentence and of that kind of "fun" 

Kaji guffawed, thinking about the many nights spent in bed with Katsuragi…   
Between the two of them, it wasn't only sex, as it often happened to people around them… Between them, it was real understanding, passion, an infinite love felt by both of them…   
When he could be near her, it was the happiest time of his life…   
But he well knew all of that belonged to the past…to the past that couldn't come back… 

"I'm going to take a shower, okay? I'll be back in a minute…" Kaji forgot to answer the kid's confused question, and so, he got out of the room, and closing the door behind himself, he also close the door on his melancolic thoughts. 

* 

About twenty minutes later, Kaji Ryouji got out from the bathroom with clean clothes on.   
As soon as he passed the treshold, he heard happy voices coming from the television, which was in the bedroom where he'd left the little boy, and he smiled. 

*Looks like he heeded my advice, for a change…* He thought, wiping with a towel his damp hair, which, for once, wasn't tied in its usual pigtail. Once they were thoroughly dry, the man took the towel away from his head and put it on his neck, and rapidly went to the bedroom where he'd left his young guest. 

"Here I am!" Kaji muttered from the threshold, while he was slowly opening the half-closed door. "I'm sorry it took me so lon…" Kaji didn't complete his sentence when, as soon as he got into the room, he noticed the boy, who was now cuddled up on the bed. The television not withstanding, he had fallen blissfully asleep. 

The former spy stood for a few moments looking at the sleeping boy, then he smiled, slowly approached the bed, and sat beside the boy. *Look…he crashed on the bed! Sometimes even little rascals like him can find a few moments of peace!* he thought, while he was about to cover the little boy with a blanket that was folded at the base of the bed, to protect him from the sleep-induced cold. 

The man stood for a little more beside the sleeping boy. Who knows what he was thinking about, while he kept stering the small silhouette in front of him. It was so sweet…   
For the first time, a complete stranger boy was making him feel a new emotion …he was surprised too, but even with that new emotion, he felt a very sweet feeling toward that little rascal…   
Who knows maybe he was just waiting for the chance to express his paternal feeling…   
After all, against all appearance and his Don Juan little games, Kaji's dream had always been to marry Misato and having her bear his children…   
But that dream was broken to pieces…   


**********************************************************************************   
The child's hair, black with purplish shades was really remarkable, since he had a light complexion... it was a fascinating constrast of colors...   
Not to mention his eyes, now sleeping...they were of a very deep dark blue...it wasn't a common sight...   
The irony of the matter was that, a few exceptions not withstanding, they shared the same eye color...   
After all, that little rascal wasn't only really similar to him in behaviour...but he also looked like...   
  
The man shook away his thoughts about the little boy and slightly smiled to himself. 

*I'm really a desperate case...* he thought with a sigh, dropping his thoughts and slowly rising.   
He realized that, very likely, the child's clothes, that he had washed and put on the balcony to dry, must have dried by now. So he slowly went toward the bedroom's door which led to the balcony, and passed through it. 

After having touched the child's white tee and blue shorts, he knew he'd been right.   
Actually, they were dry. And so, he slowly took the clothespegs away and took the clothes inside. Kaji turned his eyes toward the city below him. He lived on the 13th floor, so he could enjoy a really scenic view of the city from high above. He deemed himself very lucky for that. It was a rare privilege, for someone living in such a large city as NeoTokyo-3, to go out on his balcony and look further than the city buildings... 

Kaji rested his hands on the balcony's railing, without taking his gaze off the scenery. The sun was setting down, behind mount Futagoyama. As a matter of fact, it was almost 7 P.M. Luckily, the child's clothes had dried before the sun had completely set, so he could give them back to him before taking him home. 

Suddenly, Ryouji jerked up from his relaxed attitude, as if remembering something crucial… 

"Shimatta!!" he said to himself, after his last thought about the child. *I had completely forgotten I have to take him back home!!* He thought, while watching, through the half-closed blinds, the child still asleep on his bed, inside. 

The former Seele agent hurriedly went back inside, taking with him his little guest's clothes, while trying to quickly find a way to persuade him to tell him in which part of the city he lived with his mother, who, being dinner time by now, would have already been assailed by the thousands worries of a parent when his son is late in coming back home. 

Because of the fast movements by which he put the child's shorts and tee on his arm, something from a pocket fell down, alerting the man's attention when it hit the floor. When he heard the noise, the man for an instant stopped to watch the floor, and reached down to take up what had fallen down. At first he tought it was a toy, or something like that...   
After a thorough examination, he realized the strange object fallen from the child's pocket was a small card, that was inside a cardholder shaped like a blue tulip. He recognized it at once; it was the kind of card worn by Japanese kindergarten children over their robes, as a marking. On the card, there was the small sullen picture of the child, his home address, date of birth and blood type. Nothing else.   
The name had been erased with many pen marks, as was the phone number, and that intrigued the man more and more... 

"That's funny..." Ryouji whispered; he couldn't help saying those words, while he kept closely examining the child's data... 

It was really hard to imagine that one of the child's relatives could have erased his name; that would have been absurd...   
But it was even harder to think the boy himself had erased his own name, since he was of an age when childrem can seldom read...   
But Kaji took heart again when he noticed that the home address hadn't been erased. *At least, this will save me the effort of convincing him to tell me where his home is!* 

Ryouji abruptly took his gaze from the card, when he saw the muysterious child's thin silhouette appearing right in front of him, still on the threshold between the balcony and the bedroom. 

"Hey, you woke up!" the man gaily said, while he hurriedly closed the card, trying to hide his involuntary look browsing of it. From the little he knew, the little boy wasn't very talkative when the conversation delved into private matters, and he wouldn't cause yet another repentine scape. And luckily, the still nameless child looked too sleepy to notice Kaji's sleigh of hand. 

The kid repeatedly wiped his eyes, with a sleepy attitude "Did I fall asleep?" He asked soft voice; a long yawn underlining his words. 

Kaji nodded, while he surreptitiously hided the tulipan shaped card in his pants pockets, and slowly approaching the boy "Hai, but only for a little!" He went on, taking the still sleepy child in his arms, and taking him up he went inside. 

The former spy put him down on the bed delicately, letting him find the most comfortable position. "Your clothes have already dired... " he said, putting them on the kid's knees. "Would you like some help to change your clothes!?" He added, closing the blinds of the near balcony.   
The kid stared the clothes on his knees with an air of doubt, but after a few seconds he shook his head, in denial "No, I can manage..." He answered, raising his arms to take Kaji's big tee off. But exactly because of its big size, he couldn't take it off his little body, and Kaji took notice. 

"Raise your hands, let me help you..." Ryouji whispered discreetly after having approached, rapidly taking the tee off the little boy. 

The kid didn't say a word about the unexpected kindness of the former Seele agent. Maybe he was embarassed in a way, not because he was in his underwear in front of a stranger, the more because Kaji in less than a second put the tee back on the child; what had been embarassing was having needed the help of a grown-up to satisfy a primary need. And this had proved he still wasn't as self-sufficient as he wished to be... 

"When you are the oly man in the house, you try to give your best any way you can, and to show both to yourself and to the people around you, that you don't need anybody to go on with your life..." Ryouji Kaji broke the wintry silence that suddenly had taken hod of the room, with these almost involuntary words; words straight from his heart, while he was putting the last of the kid's clothes on him, tying his little shoes. The kid found the heart to look again in the face the man who was talking to him from time to time. 

"But you must always remember that, after all, you're only five." Kaji felt the kid's gaze on him, so raised his eyes, while he kept on tying the shoes. 

"And even if you'll be ten, twenty, or ninety... you still will need someone to be beside you... to help you live..." Ryouji couldn't explain to himself why he was talking like that tothe little stranger; after all, he was fully aware that what he was saying was way too difficult for such a little boy to grasp. But he couldn't help it. The words came out from his mind in a spontaneous way, as they were formed on his lips...   
Maybe he was speaking his mind with him beacause he knew he wouldn't ever get the meaning of his words.   
But, talking like that, he felt he was shrugging free from a heavy weight that had been on him for so long, and was eating his body and soul...   
And he repented that, and so he was wasting relentlessly away... and now, a little stranger, an innocent angel who looked as if he'd appeared out of nowhere expressly for him, was there... to wipe away, with his silent ways, every sin and inpurity from his soul, witness to too many wrongdoings... 

The room was almost in darkness, and so Kaji's words almost seemed to create the ideal climate for this exchange of views, began almost by accident between the former Seele agent and that innocent boy... 

The kid had listened and watched with attention every single word uttered by the man in front of him, kneeled at the base of the bed on which he was sitting. His big blue eyes glistened in Kaji's ones that were the very same color. They almost seemed to get inside each other, and get the meaning of the man's words, and understand...   
Understand everything inside Kaji's mind...   
Every little thought...   
Things from the past...   
Regrets and worries...   
Everything... 

"Don't make my same mistakes, okay?" the former Seele agent whispered, before slowly getting up and going away. 

The kid watched his slow movements, still without a word... 

He was flabbergasted at his savior's words. Nobody could even imagine the feelings they had caused inside him, because it was so strange...like the thousand thoughts that were crowding his mind...thoughts and feelings he had never had before... 

Ryouji got his black racket from an armchair, and swiftly put it on. 

"I better take you home now. It's almost dinnertime, and I'm sure your mother will be very worried if she doesn't see you back…" he said with his usual soft voice. 

Hearing those words, the look of confusion mixed with curiosity left the kid's face, and in its place it appeared the fear, fear to reveal to this mysterious man his home address. 

"I…" 

The little boy immediately began searching a reason not to tell Kaji his address; but he hadn't time to think, because Kaji suddenly stopped his words. 

"Yoyogi Shibuya-ku, 127/a." Kaji calmly repeated the kid's address, which he had read on the kindergarten card, without worrying about the wonderment this knowledge could cause. After all, the kid's reaction was quite obvious. "I don't know that part of the city well; before I left, it was just farmland outside Neo Tokyo-3…I could bet that sooner or later they'd build houses down there…" Kaji smiled, almost bitterly, thinking about the man's wish to conquer nature was still there, after all those years. But it wasn't the right time to think such deep thoughts; the boy's look, at the same time of wonder and worry, had all of Kaji's attention; he looked amused by having been able to surprise that little rascal. 

"But…how?" Once again, the mysterious boy's words where stopped by a fast movement by the man in front of him, who quickly put his hand in the boy's pants pocket and took out the kindergarten card. 

"I think this belongs to you …" Kaji whispered approaching the kid and giving him the card "You mother must be very careful, you know? Leaving out at least address, age and blood type! She sure expected you to get in big trouble, sooner or later! ^_^;;" Kaji went on jokingly, waiting for the kid to take the card from his hands. 

The kid didn't go on with what he was saying before the interruption.   
Apparently, the answer he was looking for was in Kaji's explanation, and so, after a last look at the man's smiling face, he slowly took the tulip-shaped card from Kaji's hands, and put it back in his pocket. He would usually have been angry at such an offence. But, strangely, this time he sttod still, maybe because he still hadn'd fully realized how the man could have his card with him. So, before putting it out, he carefully checked it was not a forgery. 

"Sumimasen (I'm sorry). I really shouldn't have taken it without your permission, but it fell down while I was taking your clothes inside. And it's been natural for me to check it out…" The man apologized, stroking the child's hair. 

"It's…okay…" the kid replied, with a voice that clearly showed his wonderment. 

Kaji smiled, grateful "So, the address is right, isn't it? What do you say, would you like to go back home?" 

The kid thought about it for a few seconds, before answering. He couldn't help it, but something inside him didn't let him be so friendly with a stranger. But this was not the point.   
This stranger was not like the rest. He gave him a weird feeling…   
And maybe this was why he was being so cautious about him…   
As if there had been something, when a few days earlier he had discovered his name at the park, to make him very suspicious… 

"Hai…" said the children in a voice so low to be almost unperceivable. 

"Then…" Kaji smiled, winking at the little boy, offering him his hand, only waiting for him to reciprocate. "Let's go home!"   


*   
8 PM 

The small lamps that surrounded one of Neo Tokyo-3's largest arteries were coming on with sincronicity.   
The sun had completely set a few minutes ago, and the city was about to prepare for the dark lunar rays, that took every night the sun's place…   
The roads were crowded with every kind of vehicle; cars, bikes, mopeds…   
The traffic light, that had been blue for the cars so far, suddenly went yellow, and soon red. At that signal, the small crowds who had been waiting for their turn on the edge of the sidewalk, quickly crossed the street on the zebra crossings; one of those people was Kaji Ryouji. But he was not alone; on his shoulders he had that little boy, who almost seemed to haunt him since the day he arrived to Neo Tokyo-3, and who'd caused him many problems… 

"What time do you usually get home?" Kaji asked, while he kept on walking fast, with the boy's legs under his arms. 

The kid, grasping the former Seele agent's shoulders, thought about that for a while, then answered:   
"mmm…Mum always says not to come back home after 6 PM…" 

Hearing those words, Kani had a look at his watch, and sighed "Oh my, you're two hours late.   
I only hope your mother hasn't gone to the police to tell them you're missing, or else who knows what she'll think about me…" 

The boy shook his head "No, I often happen to be late…once I went home at 10 P.M.!" he said, almost proud of his delay. 

"Well…if your mother hasn't called the police that time, she won't probably do it now!" 

The kid laughed, amused "No, I guess she won't!" 

Kaji smiled, while every time they changed of sidewalk to go into a sidestreet, he checked the name of the street against the one on the card… 

"We said Yoyogi Shibuya-ku, right?" He asked to be sure, slowly moving forward.   
Once again, something about his personal details, that made the little rascal's joy fade away. That ushered in an unreasonable fear and discomfort...   
The kid almost looked as if he wanted to hide his little head behind the man's shoulders, grasping him as if he wanted to take cover from something. "…hai…" he answered back, finding himself in a position where he was obviously forced to answer. But his voice had profoundly changed, and his state of mind clearly appeared weighed by doubt… 

Kaji looked sideways the kid on his shoulders, abd sighed disconsolately. From what he had gathered from the way he talked about her, his mother didn't seem a stern person; and considering she was used to even bigger delays, she shouldn't get really angry and punish him…so that couldn't be the reason of the kid's big worry at the thought of having to go back home…   
He didn't think he still was sceptical in trusting him, revealing his personal details, because, after all, he had clearly showed him, in those hours spent in his apartment, that he was just helping him… 

But then, what was eating at the little boy? Kaji still couldn't answer that question…but he felt that, at the core, there must be something really big… 

* 

"Yoyogi Shibuya-ku. 1st District " Kaji read aloud the name of the street that marked the end of his unusual night walk. He had walked almost for two blocks to get there on foot. He was not acquainted with the subway line that led to this part of the city, so he couldn't count on it. But after all, he wasn't tired; he was just happy to take that little boy back to his mother, and so lighten the burden of her worries… What he was doing made him proud. At least, his presence in Neo Tokyo-3 had been of use to someone…   
But the kid didn't look so happy about that…   
Also, his muscles almost looked tightened on hearing the name of the street where he lived… 

"Well… we can say we're almost there, luckily!" Kaji said, not noticing that little detail about the kid, while he was looking the many lawns in front of him, which were peculiar of that lush district of Neo Tokyo.3. "Thay sure have built well in this area!" He went on, while he slowly advanced on the walks between the houses, finding the building 127/a. 

Kaji was counting, one by one, the street numbers on both sides of the street he was walking on, but all of them seemed quite far from number 127/a…   
After a few steps, h estopped. "But this is number 336! Where's the number of your house?" Kaji asked to the little boy behind him. 

The sad look the boy had taken didn't improve a bit when Kaji spoke those words. He took his gaze out from the man he could barely see, and lowered his eyes toward the ground, as if he was thinking about the right course to take. Kaji accepted his silence and stood silent. Waiting for the answer that would have come, sooner or later. And he wasn't mistaken: 

The kid made a gesture to be put on the round; he did, but, after he was on the sidewalk, hurried to get his hand: Kaji was a good guy, but he was nobody's fool! He knew after all, that being put on the ground could be a good ruse to escape his control and flee again who knows where, probably putting himself in trouble again. 

But it was strange: the kid didn't look to have such intentino, so that he was taken by hand without putting up any resistance. He almost looked to encourage the man to do so. After one more sigh, the kid pointed toward a near sidestreet. 

"Home's that way…" 

Kaji looked at the street and smiled "Aah so… that's why we couldn't find it!" He said, slowly moving toward the house, and taking with him the little boy, who looked more and more reluctant to walk toward his home. 

"Why did you insist on getting down from my shoulders?!" Kaji suddenly asked, chasing away the dark thoughts that were crossing the mind of the kid, who at those words took his gaze up from the ground and shrugged "Because had I not gotten down, I couldn't have showed you the way home…" 

"I understand…" Kaji smiled, while his thoughts were lost again in something so far from him… "You know…" After a few second's pause he spoke again, breaking again the silence that seemed to surround them. 

"…When she was drunk or just tired I often carried her on my shoulders, as I did with you tonight…" 

The kid was listening, half interested and half confused, to Kaji's words, the sadness leaving his features for a time. But in Kaji's words, he could feel there was something that escaped him… 

"Who!?" the kid asked, keeping on looking the man into the eyes, while they almost without thinking were entering the sidestreet of Yoyogi Shibuya-ku that the boy had pointed at. 

The man was about to answer in a casual way, but he suddenly stopped: he couldn't find the right name to give to Misato. After all, she had always been Misato to him. Just Misato. But what exact was Misato for him? He couldn't say she was his girlfriend, not lately at least, since once they were inside Nerv, there had been moments of tenderness between them, but weren't officially a couple again. But, thinking of her as just a friend sure wasn't enough… 

You don't make out with a friend, nor do you to bet with her, and you can't love her in a desperate way, as he had done, and still did…   
Being in such a terrible pain because he missed her…   
So, what could he call her, if not by her name? a name he wasn't able to say…he didn't dare. Because he perfectly knew he couldn't rein his own feelings and he would have cried aloud, bitter tears unbecoming of himself… 

Kaji looked at the boy, and noticed that, unfortunately, the kid's look didn't appear disinterested at all, to the answer he should have given to him… 

"Well…it doesn't matter anymore…" he muttered, averting his eyes from the kid and setting them back on the road in front of him. 

"Why!?!?" the kid answered back aloud, disappointed from Kaji's reaction.   
"Because it doesn't matter anymore…" Kaji found it almost difficult to repeat those words. While he was saying them, he felt his heart break, and he could barely endure the unpleasant feeling of interior emptiness and sadness. What was happening to him!? Five years ago, he thought he had miraculously escaped from death, after the gunshots the Seele men had taken at him. Now instead, after five years, he felt as if he was dying, because of a wound inflicted not to his body, but to his soul. *Misato, is this your revenge for the terrible lie I told you five years ago?*   
This terrible thought of incredoulousness echoed in his mind, and weightened his guilty feeling, almost unbearable by now… 

"Look!! that's Mom down there!!" those happy words awakened the man from the terribile guilty feelings he was having, and he looked at the kid, who was gaily pointing at a far house, where in the lawn around it a thin female silhouette was moving around, about to take the washing inside.   


"Mom!!" it looked as if the kid had completely forgotten the feelings of fear and anxiety that had assailed him during the trip, probably because he perfectly knew his fear about Kaji was completely without grounds; and so, leaving Kaji's hand, he quickly ran toward the distant house, covering the distance. At first, Kaji told him to be careful, but there was no way he could stop him, so he had to refrain from that; he could only wait for the boy to get home. Kaji was about to follow him, but changed his mind and stood still. After all, from the kid's fear, he could guess his fear to be taken home could derive from facing his mother. The reason of that he didn't know, but Ryouji wanted to do his duty. After all, he had done his share. 

Between the former Seele agent and the house he was going to there was a distance of about fifty meters. And because of that, Ryouji couldn't exactly focus the little silhouette projected by the kid's mother. What he could see was that she was wearing a long white summer dress, with a red flower pattern on it. Her hair was the same color of the kid's, and it looked rather short. As soon as the little boy got to the house and opened the low wrought-iron gate, he went into the garden, joining his not-so-distant mother. The woman immediately noticed the kid's presence, and got down at his height whispering something to him, and taking him into her arms. It was quite obvious that his delay had hit upon her. Poor woman, who knows how many terrible times she'd had to face in her life…   
Since her partner's death, raising a child and caring about the family must not have been an easy enterprise for a single parent...   
Kaji's thought went back to Misato…   
After all, Misato must have had a life similar to that lady down there…   
Alone, let to her own devices by the man she loved… 

But, who knows, maybe Misato had married someone…   
She had built a caring family around her, and she was living happily…   
Not being able to have the smallest hope of finding among the living the man she'd loved in the past … 

This thought caused a thin smile to appear on Kaji's face…   
Even if the idea of seeing her with another man didn't make him happy for sure, Kaji wished something like that for Misato… 

After all, what most counted for him was to see her happy. Even if this happiness wasn't shared with him, it didn't matter…   
After all, he was aware he didn't deserte Misato's love anymore, after what he'd done to her… 

The former Seele agent performed a half-bow as way of greeting, when he saw the kid's mother looking at him.   
Probably, her son was telling her all what had happened…or at least he hoped so, since he was beginning to think that his fear was caused by the thought of having to tell his mother the truth…   
And the thought that a lie could be told wasn't so unlikely, since the kid's rebel look… 

But Kaji had no intention of telling the truth, that the kid was likely hiding from his mother. So, after having stopped for a few more seconds to look at that sweet family scene, he turned and began to go away… 

But that movement of the man wasn't enough for the woman to take her gaze away from him and go back to whatever she was doing before her son's arrival…   
She kept looking at the retreating man, attentively…trying to get the little details that the distance was depriving her of… 

After a few seconds, the woman seemed to find what she was looking for in Kaji's far shape, and suddenly, an idea struck lighting-fast in her mind, and the idea of proving what she was thinking made her shiver. So, swiftly, after a few words to the boy, she went toward the exit of her garden, and ran toward the man before it was too late. 

From her speed, it looked as if catching up with her child's savior was something very important for her…   
VERY important… 

Kaji slowly turned, hearing the quick and heavy steps of the woman approaching him. They almost seemed to echo the thud of the fast-beating heart in the young mother's chest. The first impression Ryouji had from the woman running was that she was probably trying to find a way to show him his gratitude for having taken her child home safe. 

Being thanked was after all something perfectly natural, and Kaji was already thinking the typical words like "I really don't know how to thank you for having taken care of my child in such a sensible way! I only hope he hasn't been of too much worry! I don't know what I'd done without you" or things like "I will always be grateful for having taken my child home. I was about to give up all hope!" But any idea Kaji could have began to disappear when he saw the thin female silhouette getting closer and closer. 

Confused ideas, déja-vu, and fragments of remembrances of the past crowded in a few seconds the mind of the former Seele agent. He found it difficult to put those pieces of past remembrances together, remembrances that now he could suddenly link to the image of the woman, now not far from him. 

Her voice and breathing became more and more laboured because of the shock. She slowed down, little by little, only when she was two or three meters from him. She almost stumbled in doing that. While her gaze was fixed on Kaji's image, he also was, now more than ever, influenced by the rather unusual feeling that had suddenly appeared in the air of that suburb of di NeoTokyo-3. 

What was happening in their minds when their eyes crossed it's impossibile to describe by words; because some feelings can only be expressed by a language that can be interpreted only by the soul of those who feel them. They both stood still without a word, for a few more secconds… it was as if, the evidence notwithstanding, they didn't want to confirm, maybe afraid of an illusion due to a mistake, what they both now were sure of knowing…   
This miracle looked too big for them both… too big…   
So big they couldn't think it true… 

Earlier, because of the distance between them, Kaji couldn't have noticed that the black hair of the girl wasn't so short as it first had looked; but they were kept together by a chinese splint of maple wood. Because of the distance he hadn't noticed the eye color, that now, even through the sudden tears which appeared in the trembling girl's eyes, were revealed to him in their magnificent dark chestnut color…   
But, more than any other thing, because of the distance, only now he realized that girl was no one else but Her… 

"Mi…Misato…" The words hardly came out of Ryouji's lips. Only God knew how many times he had uttered that name, in perfect loneliness, only corrupted by the thoughts that only reminded him of the woman who was now standing in front of him… 

At those words, twin tears came out at the same time from the eyes of the woman, and came down on her pale face. She, visibly trembling, suddenly took her hand to her mouth, almost as if she was trying to rein her emotions, now almost impossible to check. It really was him…   
She had him in front of her… 

For her, there was no logical explanation for his sudden come back. She was sure of having lost forever five years ago, the man in front of her… Kaji Ryouji was dead…she had been so sure of that… 

But then… how could he be in front of her now!? 

"My God…" Misato made a terrible effort not to lose sense in such a paramount occasion. Slowly, by steps that almost looked forcibly shuffled on her leg paralysed by the shock, the woman crossed the few steps that still separated her from the man, and almost looked to be searching for a tangible prove of his presence there, cautiously approaching her arms to the former Seele agent's face. Kaji, without a word, let her almost touch his face with trembling hands. Almost as if by touching Kaji's face she wanted to be sure of his material presence in front of her. Felling the touch of delicate hands on his face, covered as always by a short stubble, Kaji felt his heart beat crazily; but maybe it had been beating like that for a long time…   
He had only just noticed it…   
It sure wasn't the time to think about such a silly thing… 

"It's… really you…" Misato whispered those words with a noticeably forced voice. She felt her blocked throath while she was slowly shaking her head, almost as if doubting the reality of what was in front of her. 

"It's… IT'S REALLY YOU, KAJI!!" Al least, Misato's throat was suddenly unblocked, at the moment when Kaji, who couldn't help it anymore, quickly grasped her by an arm and took her to him, and hugging her in his strong arms, from which she wouldn't ever want to get out.   
It sure wasn't the kindest of hugs, but it looked as if, after having waited for five years before he could have her in his arms again, one more moment's wait would have been unbearable for both of them. The contact between the two bodies was wonderful. It wasgreat to feel each other's arms enveloping their bodies like so much time ago…   
They had been waiting for such feeling for ages…and now they were feeling it… 

Misato's chinese wooden splint got out of her hair, so freeing her long dark mane, that slowly fell down, over the girl's frail shoulders. Revealing, almost in a twist of fate, her typical hairstyle, which she used to have before that terrible lie could so brusquely divide them. Now more than ever Kaji was positive: the girl he was hugging really was Misato. Misato Katsuragi. The only woman he'd been able to really fall in love with… 

"Misato…I…" Ryouji couldn't speak anymore; tear of joy had overwhelmed him. And they were both capable only to hug and cry…cry of joy like children…   
God, how long had they been dreaming about that moment…it was too good to be true, just too good. Kaji was almost afraid it could be just a dream. The woman he had in his arms really was her! It was her Misato!   
It was indùcredible, to say the least…   
After all, the little hope he had nurtured of finding her again had never died in him, but had he been preparing a chain of events that would have taken him back to Misato?   
In Kaji's mind there was utter confusion, but what did he care after all? Love is not subject to reason, and all his life's love was in his arms right now. The rest didn't matter anymore. The neighbours of the houses around them, made curious by the unusual scene, were looking from their balconies and windows, as if they wanted to be witnesses of the magnificent picture the two young lovers were creating. Their look changed depending on their age and sex. The girls were almost laughing the scene, the men almost looked surprised, while the old people were smiling almost with melancoly, since that vision probably reminded them of the romance of the long-lost years when they were young, and of remembrances they kept under lock in their minds… 

Misato couldn't take her face away from Kaji's chest, almost as if she was hiding in it. She could feel his heart beat, his smell, his great warmth… Her eyes were almost shut, while tears were still coming out copiously, alternating with broken gulps. She was almost afraid of opening her eyes…   
What if it was only a dream!? Where would she find the strength to keep on living in the bitter reality that was around her!? 

No…   
Because of her great joy, it couldn't be a dream…   
And this was made certain by Kaji softly kissing her hair, tousling it with his right hand without opening the hug he had her in… 

"Kaji…tell me it's not a dream…" 

Kaji kept on stroking her hair, while Misato squeezed in her hand the fabric of his blue shirt "No, Misato…it's not a dream." "Five years ago, I was forced to tell you that terrible lie, to protect you from all those who could have retaliated against you…a spy's mistress…" Kaji stroked Misato's hair, while tears were still slowly coming out from his blue eyes.   
At his every word, Misato cried out louder, reliving the terrible times that followed that message on her answering machine…and the moments of utter desperation to which she often gave, helpless… 

"… But I'm alive…and I hope you will forgive me…this is real, Misato…" the man went on, with a voice in which sorrow and happiness were mixed… 

"Don't leave me…anymore, Kaji…" 

Kaji smiled at these words. "It won't happen again, Misato…I love you more than my own life…" He had learned the lesson. He wouldn't leave her again... 

"Aha!! I knew it!!" Breaking the intense instant of the two lovers, the nameless kid couldn't help it and gave voice to his protest with laboured breathing and the face full of tears and rage. 

Misato and Kaji immediately got up from their stance, even if the little boy's words weren't enough to break the hug they still were sharing. So, they both just turned their confused faces toward the small silhouette of the kid, whose rage they couldn't explain, while many tears were still coming out of his big, blue eyes. 

"What?" Before Misato could ask the reason of his desperate crying, the kid answered, still with an angry voice. 

"I knew…you would have made Mom cry!!" He said between the tears, while he took his right arm to his eyes, wiping tears from them. 

The former Seele agent looked at Misato, confused. This gesture showed all his misunderstanding of the angry words uttered by the kid. But Misato, instead, seemed to grasp what was in her son's mind, who, of course, not having completely witnessed their encounter, couldn't know how thing really stood. 

So the woman with long, dark hair was forced to break the hug that tied her to Kaji, and slowly approached the crying kid, who was only a few steps from her. 

Misato bent down at the height of her son, and after having quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, smiled, putting her hand on the thin crow-black hair of the small boy. The same color of her own.   
  
The kid, the kind gestures of her mother notwithstanding, looked as if he had given to desperate crying. The sense of protection he had toward his mother was very sweet. He was really walking his role as "man of the house" that he had given himself: to make Mom happy. This was his only mission. 

Misato almost regretted of never having dispelled this idea of his, and letting him live without any responsibility, just like all kids of his age. 

"Dear…" she whispered moving away the arm that the kid was using to hide his eyes, to meet his gaze. The boy put up no resistance, and showed his eyes, where tears were still flooding, to his mother. He considered himself responsible of not having protected her… 

"I'm not crying out of sadness…" she answered with her sweet and reassuring voice, showing a very sweet smile, barely reined from the immense joy she was feeling then, to prove her happy mood to the kid. The only thing Misato would have liked to do at the moment was to take her little boy in her arms and squeezing him tight together with Kaji, encompassing the two people she loved in a hug that would have tied them to her forever. But with a great effort she didn't, and acted cautiously, at least to calm both the kid and Kaji, who, had she acted according her whim, wouldn't understand what was really happening… 

"Aren't…aren't you sad, Mom?" Misato's words had the effect of stopping the crying of the kid, who had been so terribly sorry in thinking he had brought home the cause of the crying of the woman who had borne him; but he wanted first to be sure about all that, repeating the question once again.   
  
Misato shook her head "No" she answered, while slowly moving both hands over the kid's face, wiping with her thumbs the tears on the edge of his eyes, about to be shed. 

Did the kid ask her whether she was sad? God, it was the opposite…   
She had never felt so happy in her life…   
If this was a dream, she wouldn't ever wake up… 

The woman moved her hand over the boy's hair, swiftly stroking it, and then stood again, taking the kid by hand and approaching Kaji with him, taking her son with her, who followed her with unsure and confused step…   
It was obvious that he didn't understand… And Kaji's face didn't look any less confused, too…   
Nobody but her could understand what was happening to her…and this idea made her shed new tears, that slowly began to flow over her face again, almost unnoticed to her and the others…   
Kaji looked the kid, whose height didn't go beyond Misato's legs, which he was using as a guiding point to cautiously steady himself, as soon as he noticed the gaze of the man responsible for his mother's tears, directed toward him. Misato didn't break this exchange of looks, after all she was focused on holding her own tears, that were about to flow again from her eyes, because of the great joy she was feeling. She knew that if she let them fall, she wouldn't be able to speak anymore, and she still had something to say… 

Her hand went back to the thin curls in her son's dark hair, who, feeling her touch, raised his face toward her and stared at her, feeling she was about to talk to him… 

"I'd like to introduce to you a very important person, Ryouji…" hearing the way she had called him, the kid didn't show his surprise, as Kaji did. Did he hear well? That boy, whose name he didn't know until a little time ago, had been called Ryouji by his mother? But then… 

"Ryou…" before the former Seele agent could repeat his – and the kid's - surname, with a voice broken by the sudden amazement, Misato interjected: 

"Right…I had decided that if it'd be a boy, he would have your name…" She went on, dividing her gaze between Kaji and the little boy, who was looking at the two grownups with an air of questioning. The words that had crossed weren't clear at all, for him; after all, his mother had never touched such topics when speaking to him…   
  
But his young age notwithstanding, he had already understood that they were talking about something crucial… 

"And luckily that's what happened…" Misato went on, turning again her stare toward the amazed face of Kaji, who was trying, in vain, to grasp the key that would let him understand what Misato was trying to tell him… 

"After all..." the woman went on smiling "He was the last thing about you I had left…" 

"The last thing about …" Repeating Misato's last words, trying to make sense of them, proved fatal for the confusion that was in the man's mind: a flashback. A sudden flashback appeared in Kaji's mind, like a sudden insight. An idea that had never before touched him was now making way inside him, running at an impressive speed. "But what do you mean?" Kaji had guessed the answer by now, but the shock was too much for him, so big it defeated reason; and he couldn't control his own words or movements anymore. 

Misato's tears were becoming more and more difficult to check, but she knew that losing control at such a time would be a real crime. She couldn't afford it. Not before telling him the sentence that she was revolving around and around… 

"He's your son, Kaji…" 

Those words echoed not only in the mind, but also in the heart of the former Seele agent, who now found himself again fighting with all his might not to lose sense right in that instant. He stared, shocked, Misato's moved face. But he turned at once his eyes to the one who had his same eye color. The kid whom he'd first saved when he fell from the tree, and then from the thugs who had it in for him, and now he discovered that it was himself to have given him life… 

Looking innocent face of the boy, who because of his young age wasn't probably able to understand what they were saying, staring at everything around him with a confused and questioning look, he felt that he wasn't immune from tears too…   
He wasn't able to speak…his words were blocked again… 

A wind burst made Misato avert her gaze from Kaji, and turn it back toward the little boy. 

"Say hello to your daddy, Ryo-chan…" 

Her last words touched the eye of the shock and joy of both of them. And they finally seemed to involve the five years old kid. 

"He's my…daddy?!" the kid asked to his mother. But instead, it was the one subject of the question asked who replied. 

"Yes…I'm your father, Ryo-chan…" As soon as he felt tears on his face, almost at the same time of Misato, Kaji ran toward the woman and her child, and as he'd done a while ago, he took the woman in a large hug, which could also encompass the boy, whom Misato quickly took in her arms. 

"Misato…" Kaji couldn't remember when it was the last time he had cried out of happiness, as he was now doing. He was wondering whether that was the first time he did. But after all what did it matter now!? What thought could be more important than Misato's and their child, conceived during that last night of passion they spent in the love hotels of the city? 

"I love you, Misato…I love you with all my heart…" Kaji whispered while he couldn't stop kissing and hugging the only woman he'd loved in his life, and squeezing and stroking the fruit of their love, who had been able to lead him back to her…sealing their union in a promise that would last forever…   
Nothing could separate them anymore…nothing… 

I really can't say what happened after, because who's got heart understands better than what I could express by simple words…   


The End   
  



End file.
